A joint office of 28 Chinese government ministries and administrations has unveiled a plan to implement the nation's new intellectual property strategy this year.

The plan released on April 10 includes 90 detailed measures to fulfill eight tasks including improving the quality of intellectual property, using IP to promote the development of burgeoning industries and further develop the IP service industry, and fostering an IP culture.

Huang Qing, director of the protection and coordination department at the State Intellectual Property Office, said at a press conference that authorities will improve the invention evaluation and awards systems to encourage an increase in the quality, instead of the quantity, of overall intellectual property.

The Ministry of Finance will take measures to support innovation in a number of "key emerging industries of strategic importance" such as new plant species and new materials made from rare earths.

The plan calls for about 30 industry associations to be founded this year to boost those emerging industries.

Some IP-related laws covering trademarks, copyrights and patents are being revised to better protect IP rights, according to the plan.

Recently released draft revisions to the nation's copyright law would permit recorded works to be sold and licensed by collective management groups without authorization from composers three months after the work is first published.

The provision has aroused the ire of the music industry, but Wang Zhicheng, deputy director of the copyright department at the National Copyright Administration, said it might be "a misunderstanding".

"Articles 46 and 48 in the revised law should be considered together," he explained. "Article 46 mentions a three-month period, but Article 48 has many additional requirements on collective management organizations, the NCA and other limits."

"In the current copyright law now in effect, there is no such detailed regulation at all. So, copyright protection is actually strengthened, not weakened (by the new provisions)," said Wang.

"At the same time, new rules can help distribution of the works," he said.

A number of policies will be formulated or improved to upgrade the IP service industry.

SIPO official Wu Ningyan said the office plans to "establish closer ties with the Bank of Communications in IP financing services for small and medium-sized companies" this year.

At the same time, SIPO will promote IP financing services "that cover wider range of industries with improved quality" for startup companies in 16 pilot regions in the country.

The office will also cooperate with other government organizations to make preferential policies to "help IP assessment, collateral, trading and information agencies", said Wu.

zhangzhao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/18/2012 page17)